A new Korea-US nuclear framework calls for eight large reactors to be built on American soil. The split is designed to be neat: two reactors would use South Korea’s APR1400 design and six would use Westinghouse’s AP1000.
Up to $120 billion from a strategic investment fund is earmarked for the eight-reactor construction programme in the United States. Estimated building costs stand at $100 billion, with a further $20 billion held as a contingency reserve.
Both designs already hold licences from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction in the US. The aim is for work to be under way on all eight reactors by 2030.
The arrangement joins US technological expertise to South Korea’s supply-chain capacity. That division of labour matters because virtually no American companies currently have the construction capacity required for the project.
The Korean participants include Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Doosan Enerbility, Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Hyundai Engineering & Construction. A Team Korea consortium may seek the work through a full engineering, procurement and construction, or EPC, turnkey contract.
Westinghouse’s place in the arrangement is set out in a one-off waiver under a 2025 settlement covering its intellectual-property dispute with Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. Westinghouse is to receive a compensation package of approximately 2 billion US dollars for each APR1400 reactor, or 4.0 billion US dollars for the two units.
That compensation covers intellectual-property licensing, engineering and procurement services, subcontracting opportunities, and long-term supplies for nuclear-fuel manufacturing services. Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power also signed a 50-year long-term agreement with Westinghouse in January of last year, providing for royalties and service purchases for every nuclear reactor exported.
The framework reportedly contains measures that would allow South Korea to secure a 5 to 10 percent stake in Westinghouse. Cameco owns 49% of Westinghouse, while Brookfield, a Canadian private equity firm, holds a 51 percent stake.
The financing is intended to get the slower parts of reactor construction moving early. The Department of Energy announced a 17.5 billion US dollars conditional loan commitment in June to support purchases of long-term procurement items. South Korea and the United States also agreed to work on transferring a $10 billion advance payment by the end of the year, mainly for the immediate purchase of long-lead items.
The framework is expected to significantly increase Korean companies’ presence in the US market. South Korea’s overseas nuclear record includes the Barakah plant in the UAE and the Dukovany project in the Czech Republic.
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